Falcons Open 73rd Season of MAC Play at Akron on Saturday
Saturday, Oct. 5 | 3:30 p.m. | InfoCision Stadium | Akron, Ohio
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BOWLING GREEN FALCONS (1-3, 0-0 MAC) |
at | AKRON ZIPS (1-4, 0-1 MAC) |
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Falcons Open 73rd season of MAC Play at Akron
• Bowling Green State University opens its 73rd season of play in the Mid-American Conference on Saturday against the Akron Zips.
• This will be the 31st meeting between the Falcons and the Zips.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+
Bowling Green and MAC Openers
• Bowling Green opens Mid-American Conference play on Saturday at Akron.
• Since 2011, Bowling Green is 5-8 in MAC openers, with all five wins coming on the road. The Falcons are 5-3 in conference openers on the road during that span, with victories at Miami (OH) (2011), Kent State (2013), UMass (2014), Buffalo (2015), and Akron (2022).
• Saturday's game marks the fifth time Bowling Green has opened league play on the road since 2015.
Five Top Storylines
• Bowling Green's next MAC win will be its 300th all-time in conference play. They currently sit behind Miami (OH) (319) and Toledo (301) for all-time MAC wins.
• Two-time MAC Offensive Player of the Week TE Harold Fannin Jr. is No. 1 in the nation among tight ends in receptions (37), receiving yards (541), YAC (315), first downs (25), broken tackles (14) and tied for first in receiving touchdowns (4). Per Pro Football Focus, Fannin owns the highest overall grade in the nation (95.2) and ranks No. 1 for his pass routes grade (96.0) for all receivers. He also ranks No. 6 among all players in both receiving yards and receptions.
• QB Connor Bazelak enters Saturday with 970 career completions, ranking No. 3 among active players (behind Washington's Will Rogers and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel). He needs 30 more completions to become the 41st player in FBS history to reach 1,000 career completions. Last time out he became the fifth active quarterback to reach 10,000 passing yards for his career.
• DL Anthony Hawkins and ILB Joseph Sipp Jr. are No. 1 in the MAC (No. 28 nationally) with 0.75 sacks per game.
• Bowling Green has recorded 12 sacks this season. Since the start of the 2022 season, BGSU has accumulated 83 team sacks, ranking 15th in the nation.
Bowling Green vs. Akron
• Bowling Green heads to Akron on Saturday for Mid-American Conference action.
• BGSU leads the all-time series with Akron, 20-10. Akron joined the MAC in 1992.
• Since 2000, Bowling Green is 6-1 against Akron when holding the Zips to under 300 yards of total offense. Akron's lone win came in 2020.
• Since 2000, Bowling Green is 9-4 against Akron when the Falcons accumulate 350+ yards of total offense.
• Since 2000, Bowling Green is 9-1 against Akron when winning the turnover battle.
Akron Area is Home to Loeffler
• Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler hails from Barberton, Ohio, which is approximately eight miles from Akron's InfoCision Stadium.
• Loeffler is a 1993 graduate of Barberton High School.
• College Football Hall of Fame head coach Bo Schembechler also graduated from Barberton High School and was the reason Loeffler chose to attend Michigan.
Fannin Has Big Day Against Old Dominion
• Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. had a career day against Old Dominion last time out. For the third game in a row he set a career high in receiving yards. Against the Monarchs he broke the BGSU single-game record for receiving yards in a game with 192. His 12 receptions also rank No. 2 all-time at BGSU for receptions by a tight end in a game. Both numbers are the best for a tight end this season.
• Fannin has recorded three games of 100+ receiving yards this year and has four for his career. Fannin owns four of the seven all-time BGSU games where a tight end has 100+ receiving yards.
• Fannin also had two touchdowns to give him 11 receiving scores for his career, which set a BGSU record. The previous record was 10 done by Alex Bayer and Mark Dowdell.
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